March 4/99 9:41 am - Announcement, Tour de Snowy Final

Posted by Editor on 03/4/99

Canadian Triathlete Goes Live!

We are pleased to announce that Canadian Triathlete, the Canadian source for multisport news and information is now online. Canadian Triathlete - www.canadiantriathlete.com - is a partnership between Bicycle Canada (producers of Canadian Cyclist) and Kevin MacKinnon, editor of Transitions (the Ontario Triathlon magazine). Both parties bring skills to the project that will make it a success. Bicycle Canada will provide the technical knowledge to produce the website, while MacKinnon offers a vast knowledge of the Canadian multisport scene. MacKinnon is also the Communications Director for TriSport, producers of the TriSport race series.

The site will initially offer News, Event Calendars and a Discussion Forum. Free Classifieds, Links and Training sections will follow shortly.

The race is taking place in the Snowy Mountain Region, not far from Canberra.Today we started out at 9:30am from Tumut for a 42km race to Talbingo. It was a nice race to start the season off, as for many of us from across the ocean...this was to be our first race. There was a Cat 2 Mountain Sprint approximately 6k long just 8k into the race. It was won by Australian,Tracey Gaudrey.

The pack split up on the climb. There were a few attacks and one crash bringing down a fair number of riders in the main peleton; however, the race ended with a relatively large group of riders sprinting for the finish. The first stage was won by Mirjam Melchers of the Netherlands, second was American Mari Holden, third was Australian Anna Wilson.

After a BRIEF cool down, the riders began the second stage of the Tour de Snowy, an 8.4km time trial, half of which was climbing!! The winner was Mari Holden (USA), second was Great Britain's Yvonne McGregor, and third was Karen Kurreck (USA).

Tomorrow brings a 110km race from Khancoban to Cabramurra ending with a 10km climb...yahoo!!!

Day Two: Stage Three 110k (Tons of climbing!!!!)

Today's 110km race promised to be a climbers dream with a Category 2 and a Category 1 climb...little did we know, the entire race was filled with climbing! The group stayed together until the first climb...from then on, it was a race of attrition. The Australians were quite aggressive, sending off riders one after another. My plan for this race was to wait until the last climb to take any action. As predicted, the final climb was VERY steep, the kind I love. After the first 5km, myself and Susy Pryde set tempo until the QOM (Queen of the Mountain) sprint. I then stayed up front as we continued to climb, keeping the tempo up so that my teammate Karen Kurreck could take the leaders jersey from Mari Holden. The plan worked perfectly, with Karen sprinting for 1st place, and myself taking 5th place.

Day Three: Stage Four (83.6k road race)

Today's race was relatively short and flat in comparison to yesterday...only 83.6km in 2 hours 14 minutes! Karen Kurreck, Anne Samplonius and myself have agreed to work together to help keep the leaders jersey. Today the goal was to keep a close eye on the riders in the top ten and conserve our energy for tomorrow's VERY hilly stage. Fortunately for us, a safe break went off the group after about 25km. The riders were low enough on GC that we could relax and let their teammates control the peleton. The race ended with Elizabeth Tadich and Sarah Symington gaining 1minute and 40 seconds...the rest of us roared down a large hill finishing in Jindabyne, a field of 27 riders, with Anna Wilson taking the sprint for 3rd place.

Day Four: Stage Five (112km road race)

Today we lost the leader's jersey ;-(...it was a tough race with 7 mountain sprints...all of which had time bonuses. Karen and I covered as many attacks as we could; however, Tracey Gaudrey got away after about 25km into the race and stayed away, taking over the lead. We worked hard to keep the time gain down, but with the time bonuses (up to 10 seconds for each mountain sprint)...we had a lot of work to do between the two of us.

All is not lost. Tomorrow there are two more stages, a 60km road race and a 30km criterium. Karen is now in second and I'm in 6th GC. We plan to race aggressively and see where that takes us.

Results: Stage Five 112km Jindabyne-Charlotte Pass-Thredbo

A daunting race with 7 mountain sprints! We climbed 10km before the first sprint and then began a series of ups and downs along the top of Charlotte Pass...Once we reached the summit, we turned around and came back down...just for the pleasure of doing the climbs both ways!!!! Those Aussies!! ;-)

Day Five: Stage Six and Seven (61k road race and 30k criterium)

Today started with a 61k road race and ended with a 30k criterium...both of which were extremely fast!! The road race was attack after attack...one break that stayed away had Liz Tadich, Yvonne McGregor, and Mirjam Melchers. After the sprint spot, Kathy Watt and myself attacked...caught a solo Australian rider, stayed away for about five minutes and then were caught by the peleton. It was then Anna Wilson took the opportunity to bridge up to the break of three. From then on it was a chase to the finish to keep the time gap down...the lead group ended up with 28 seconds...with the time bonuses Anna Wilson and Yvonne McGregor move up into 5th and 6th GC respectively. I took fourth in the group sprint and moved into 8th GC.

After about 4 hours rest, we began the criterium...the pace was fast with half the peleton getting lapped at ten laps to go. Some attacks were made, but nothing stayed away. The sprint was won by Karen Kurreck (USA)! I stayed safe and held onto 8th GC.

Overall, the Tour de Snowy was an excellent first season race...the courses were challenging, the accomodations were first class and the people were fantastic!!